Japan April 2008

Just a quick post about my trip to Japan in April. It was a bit of world wind trip, as i really did not have much time. We were busy with 3 long days of meetings, mostly late into the night. So again i did not have any time to see anything. Hotel-office-hotel-office-hotel. This time i stayed again at the Oriental Hotel downtown Hiroshima. The hotel is newly refurbished and is very contemporary is furnishings. Breakfast is good, both western and Japanese, and the people are friendly. It is only a short (5 min) walk from the pedestrian shopping area, and about a 25 minute walk to the peace memorial, which a recommend anyone to see.
Most colleagues like to stay at the Rihga Royal in Hiroshima, probably because it is close to the peace memorial and ground zero. Although it has 4 stars i find it rather crude, with little amenities and definitely no style.
The last day in Japan we normally have to catch the train at about 17:00 so as to be at Osaka airport for the morning flights back to Europe. As time is always a premium this is usually a mad dash to the train station. The trains in Japan really should be the envy of the world. They are almost allways on times, and stop precisely at the same spot in a given station, everytime! It's actually pretty amazing. People line up at this spot as they know the train will stop exactly there. Here a few pictures of the bullet trains i took, and a picture of 1st class cabin inside.